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After 2 years of waiting, the Web3 version of 'MapleStory' (MapleStory N) has finally officially launched. This is the largest blockchain game ever and has become one of the hottest topics recently. After the official launch, the server was immediately full, and some players seemed to have trouble receiving verification codes during new user registrations due to the influx of many new players.

$NXPC, the in-game currency, launched simultaneously with TGE on multiple exchanges including Binance, Bybit, Bitget, Upbit, and Bithumb.

How to start the game? What is the game experience and gold farming income like? After personal experience and information gathering, I have organized it for you in this article.

The Bitcoin and Virtual Assets Development Association held its member meeting on May 16, 2025, officially electing new board members. Under the leadership of Honorary Chairman Lawyer Lin Hongyu and Chairman Professor Hsu Peiling, the association will collaborate with the Bitcoin community, the virtual asset industry, and the academic research community to jointly declare a commitment to entering the 'Virtual Asset 2.0' era.

The list of new board members is as follows:

The Bitcoin Pizza Day was grandly held, signaling a new phase for the industry.

On the same day, the association hosted its annual event—Bitcoin Pizza Day, inviting over 150 Bitcoin community partners to participate, commemorating the birth of Bitcoin payments, symbolizing Bitcoin's official milestone into mainstream assets.

Original source: DL News

Translated by: Daisy, Mars Finance

JPMorgan analyzes the performance of top cryptocurrencies in April

Bitcoin's performance has outshone gold over the past year

The outlook for Bitcoin continues to improve, contrasting sharply with its previous downturn when it hovered around $80,000 months ago. JPMorgan's research found that Bitcoin prices strengthened throughout April, with even more rapid gains in May.

In the previous few weeks, the market had suffered a heavy blow—U.S. President Trump announced comprehensive tariff increases, triggering panic over a global trade war, leading to widespread pressure on international markets.

In a report on May 14, JPMorgan noted that while Trump promoted pro-crypto policies, he failed to drive crypto prices up or achieve regulatory reform during his first hundred days in office.

Taiwan Mobile announces its official entry into the cryptocurrency field, with its wholly-owned subsidiary Fusheng Digital set to launch the first trading platform in Taiwan supported by a large corporate group on May 22, which coincides with the global cryptocurrency community's commemorative day 'Bitcoin Pizza Day'. The goal is to create the most trusted local brand, focusing on strict risk control, safety, convenience, and ease of use, seizing opportunities in the Web3 era.

According to the official website, TWEX is currently open for invited users to experience, with registration limited to Taiwan Mobile users; on the other hand, in the initial stage, external transfers of virtual assets will not be allowed, nor will trading exchanges between virtual assets be provided, but related functions will be gradually opened in the future.

Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm will stand trial on July 14. The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) recently stated that while the prosecution has decided to drop some charges, Roman Storm will still face criminal responsibility for three other felonies, and the trial will proceed as scheduled.

According to a letter submitted by the U.S. Department of Justice to the presiding judge, prosecutors will withdraw the charge against Roman Storm for "failing to register as a Money Transmitter"; however, he will still face charges of "conspiracy to launder money," "conspiracy to evade sanctions," and "transferring criminal proceeds."

After the abrupt collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022, following a lengthy 27-month bankruptcy process, according to the latest announcement, starting from May 30, the bankrupt entity 'FTX Trading Ltd.' will initiate the second phase of repayment operations, repaying over $5 billion to major creditors.

FTX initiated its first round of repayments on February 18 this year, primarily targeting 'convenience' creditors, i.e., those whose claims do not exceed $50,000.

As for the upcoming second phase of repayment operations, it is aimed at creditors who missed the first round of compensation, as well as large claims from 'non-convenience' creditors.

Madman says…

After the tariff war comes to an end, how will the market perform in the short, medium, and long term?

Today, Fed Chairman Powell stated that interest rates will not decrease quickly, indicating that the possibility of rate cuts in the coming months remains low. Data shows that there will be no more than two rate cuts this year, and they are likely to be concentrated after September, specifically looking at changes in CPI data and employment conditions. Therefore, the Fed's impact on the market in the short term will not be significant.

In the short term, what we really need to watch is Trump's rhetoric. Tariffs, comments on social media, monetary policy interventions, and tax regulations are all ways he impacts the market. It's not easy for normal people to anticipate his thought processes, so short-term trends are quite random recently, making it uncomfortable for most short-term traders.

According to (The New York Times), a representative from the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase revealed that the SEC is investigating whether Coinbase inflated its user metrics before its 2021 listing, misleading investors.

(The New York Times) reported, citing informed sources, that the SEC is reviewing Coinbase's past disclosures, including its registration statement during its direct listing. In the statement, Coinbase claimed that the exchange had over 100 million 'verified users.' However, about two years later, that number was quietly removed from public filings.

As global investors gradually lose confidence in fiat currencies, the 'Debasement Trade' — which involves shifting funds to gold and bitcoin to combat inflation and currency devaluation risks — has once again become the main theme in the market. This influx of funds has boosted the prices of gold and cryptocurrencies at the end of last year, but entering 2025, it has turned into a zero-sum game of 'you rise, I fall.' JPMorgan stated that the performance of the two has shown a divergence, with gold momentum weakening, whereas bitcoin has greater upside potential in the second half of the year.

JPMorgan's strategy analysis team led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou released a report on Wednesday stating:

Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S., has been rocked by allegations of insider leaks of user data. Hackers allegedly bribed overseas customer service personnel to steal user information and launch social engineering scams. Coinbase estimates that this incident will lead to potential losses between $180 million and $400 million, primarily related to crisis expenses and voluntary compensation for users.

According to documents submitted by Coinbase to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 15, hackers bribed overseas customer service personnel to obtain user KYC (Know Your Customer) data, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails, and used this information to launch social engineering scams. According to earlier media reports, this incident affected about 1% of monthly active users.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes predicts that Bitcoin will rise to 1 million dollars before 2028. He believes that the reason is not ETF or institutional investment, but rather that the United States will implement capital controls, continuing its tariff policy. The Trump administration may adopt taxation on foreign capital, such as on stocks, bonds, and real estate, to address the trade deficit, which will drive capital away from traditional assets and into borderless assets like Bitcoin and gold.

Arthur estimates that if the U.S. imposes a 2% tax on foreign capital, it could generate 600 billion dollars in revenue, enough to exempt the income tax for the bottom 90% of Americans, compensating for the current stagnation in tariff negotiations under Trump’s policy. Additionally, the tax rate obtained from negotiations is insufficient to meet Trump's administration's commitment of 'income tax exemption for households earning below 150,000 dollars.'

Author: Zen, PANews

The NFT pioneer CryptoPunks has changed hands again after being sold to the developers of Bored Ape (BAYC), Yuga Labs.

On the evening of May 13, the iconic work of NFT and crypto art, CryptoPunks, officially changed hands—acquired by a foundation named Infinite Node (abbreviated as 'NODE') from Yuga Labs. Although the terms of the deal have not been disclosed, according to media reports (NFT Now) quoting several informed sources, NODE paid approximately $20 million for this acquisition. As a result of this news, the floor price of CryptoPunks rose from 42 ETH to 47.5 ETH.

Jim Chanos, the legendary Wall Street short seller who gained fame for shorting the energy company Enron, is now targeting Bitcoin concept stocks — Strategy (MSTR), while simultaneously buying Bitcoin.

Recently, Jim Chanos said in an interview with CNBC: "We are selling MicroStrategy (Strategy) stock while buying Bitcoin. This is an arbitrage strategy, simply put, you buy at $1 and sell at a price as high as $2.5."

Is MSTR becoming a shadow stock of Bitcoin, with valuations already 'out of touch with reality'?

Haowang Guarantee, known as the "world's largest online black market", announced that it would cease operations. With Telegram's recent move to block all channels and groups of Haowang Baozhang, this cybercrime tool that has dominated Southeast Asia and involved in a huge underground economy has finally come to an end.

Haowang Guarantee issued an announcement on its official website on Tuesday, stating: "Since all our NFTs, channels and groups were blocked by Telegram on May 13, 2025, Haowang Guarantee will immediately cease all operations."

According to an updated report released by blockchain analysis company Elliptic on the same day, Telegram closed thousands of channels related to Haowang Guarantee in one go. The reason was the in-depth investigation revealed by Elliptic a few days ago, which directly led to the collapse of Haowang Guarantee.

The well-known Ethereum wallet MetaMask ('Little Fox') has long been rumored to issue a native token, and now co-founder Dan Finlay has finally responded, but he continues to be reserved, stating 'still under consideration,' while smiling and saying, 'Maybe.'

Dan Finlay stated in an interview with (The Block) on Wednesday that if MetaMask does indeed launch a token issuance plan in the future, 'it will be announced through the official channels within the wallet, and users will be able to find relevant information and links directly in the wallet.' He emphasized:

We will not notify you through any social media accounts, via SMS, or by email — we do not have your phone number or email address. All information will be published through the official wallet or website.

The Ethereum Foundation announced on May 14 the launch of the 'Trillion Dollar Security' initiative (1TS), pledging to comprehensively strengthen blockchain security architecture and pave the way for financial applications of future trillion-dollar asset scales.

Although Ethereum currently holds the position as the largest smart contract platform, with on-chain assets exceeding $63 billion, the Foundation believes that in order to become the core underlying infrastructure supporting the global digital economy, the current security mechanisms still need upgrading to prepare for broader economic integration and ultimately surpass the security provided by traditional financial infrastructures.

The Democratic caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday (14th) requested the U.S. Treasury Department to provide details regarding suspicious financial activities related to the DeFi project World Liberty Financial and the meme coin TRUMP.

Democratic Congressman wrote to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, requesting the Treasury to 'provide the committee with all suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to... the cryptocurrency business World Liberty Financial (WLF) recently launched by the Trump family and the meme coin TRUMP of the same name.'

This request is part of a broader investigation that includes probing the Musk political action committee that supports Trump and the Republican fundraising platform WinRed. The basis for these demands from the Democratic caucus is concerns about 'bribery, corruption, and conflicts of interest.'

Nexon Group's blockchain subsidiary and IP expansion project NEXPACE today officially launched the blockchain MMORPG game (MapleStory N), along with its exclusive token NXPC. This token has been listed on 7 exchanges, including Bitget, Bithumb, Binance, Bybit, Gate.io, KuCoin, and Upbit. This joint release marks a key milestone for NEXPACE's (MapleStory Universe) project, bringing this historic 23-year-old game IP into the blockchain world for the first time.

(MapleStory N) combines the nostalgic 2D graphics and gameplay of classic (MapleStory) with brand new blockchain-native mechanisms, including NFTs, on-chain item systems, and open market trading. Players can undertake quests, fight monsters, and earn, craft, and trade game assets with real value in the process.

Under the dual benefits of slowing inflation in the US and Saudi Arabia's commitment to invest $600 billion in the US, risk assets rebounded across the board last night (15th). QCP Capital pointed out in a market briefing that this wave of increase was most remarkable in the cryptocurrency market.

The S&P 500 index in the US rebounded over 18% from its April low, successfully reclaiming losses from this year, but the cryptocurrency market performed even more fiercely. Analysts point out that the rebound momentum of digital assets is continuing, mainly driven by progress in tariff negotiations and cooling inflation, which has revived market 'risk-on sentiment.'

According to data from the on-chain analysis platform CryptoQuant, as Bitcoin continues to rise, retail investors are gradually returning. Reports show that during major rallies in Bitcoin bull markets, active participation from retail investors has always played a key role, especially during bull markets where part of the momentum comes from retail investors chasing prices. Although retail activity in Bitcoin has been low over the past three months, the situation is changing.

Analyst Carmelo Alemán pointed out that the most sensitive retail investors to market volatility (holding amounts between $0 and $10,000) have started to buy significantly since Bitcoin's rebound on April 9. Between April 28 and May 13, retail purchasing volume increased by 3.4%, indicating a resurgence of confidence in Bitcoin's prospects, further boosting buying pressure and potentially driving the next wave of increases.